Judge Finds Defendant Incompetent Despite Contrary Findings

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Despite a July psychological evaluation that found him competent to stand trial, a 60-year-old homicide defendant was once more ruled incompetent in mental health court on July 31.

Richard Sylvester Green is charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault and three counts of firearm use in a felony violent crime in connection to the shooting of 57-year-old radio host Tyra Phillips Womack outside her home on the 2400 block of Albion Avenue on June 10, 2020.

A July report from Clifton T. Perkins Hospital found Green competent to stand trial, but Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Gale E. Rasin delayed an official ruling on the defendant’s competency at his six-month status update on July 17 so that counsel could have time to review the results of the new evaluation. On July 31, Judge Rasin ruled that Green was still incompetent to stand trial, despite the findings of the initial report.

According to a doctor present in mental health court, an addendum was added to the competency evaluation report after Green’s last appearance in court. The new entry stated that Green was competent on the basis of his functional knowledge of the court but was unwilling to work with his defense attorneys, calling into question his ability to actively participate in his defense.

The doctor explained that Green’s defense attorneys Janet Andersen and Robert Cohen, as well as defense attorney Sharon Bogins-Eberhart, attempted to meet with their client to review the new report, but he initially refused before eventually entering into a “contentious and unproductive” meeting.

Later, Cohen and an attorney from the Office of the Public Defender went to Clifton T. Perkins Hospital to deliver court documents to Green, but he allegedly would not meet with them and informed them he would see them in court next year.

Green insists his attorneys did not meet with him as much as they stated and expressed frustration that they promised to meet with him the Tuesday after his previous hearing but did not connect with him until the following Wednesday. The defendant also claimed that video evidence that his attorneys allegedly tried to show him at their first meeting did not exist.

Green’s next scheduled appearance in mental health court is Jan. 22, 2025.